Spaz Reviews: Grimspace – Ann Aguirre

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Ann Aguirre’s Website
• List Price: $ 7.99 US
• Publisher: Ace;  (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441015999
• ISBN-13: 978-0441015993

Buy Grimspace at:

• Amazon
• Book Depository

As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace-a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun’s not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.

I have wanted to pick up this series for what seems like forever, and I finally did! This is my first introduction to Science Fiction and I can tell you I am hooked on this series and am a “Jax” fan.

Grimspace is the first book of the Sirantha Jax series and not only my first Science Fiction book but also my first time reading Ann Aguirre. I am still reeling from the worlds that Ms Aguirre created and took us through. It is one of the most edgy books I have read. Because I love movies and television, I couldn’t help but get the feel of Firefly/Serenity meets Star Wars. Sirantha Jax is born with the rare J-gene that enables her to lead a ship through a shortcut bend in space called Grimspace. After her last mission goes very wrong and she is blamed for it, a group of rogue fighters help her escape so that she can help them with their own agenda.

While I loved Grimspace as a whole, I have to say that it was difficult at times to connect with Sirantha completely. She was completely unapologetic in her actions at times, and her nature was incredibly selfish. At one point she did something that made me so mad I wasn’t sure how I could carry on reading. But as she develops unlikely relationships with the secondary characters, we see her really grow and progress –  which saved it for me and I was won over. Ms. Aguirre does a good job at helping us understand why she is the way she is and that she is willing to learn from her experiences. I am forgiving of characters frustrating me at times to a certain amount, but if they do not show signs of self-discovery and growth I am done. We definitely watch Sirantha “Jax” stumble a lot, but we also see the beginnings of a great leader.

Another great thing about this book are all the secondary characters. They each have their own distinct personalities and never stray from having their own voices and dialog. There is a lot of sarcastic banter which can sometimes get on my nerves but in this case it was used well, and I found myself giggling sometimes despite the overall darkness of the book.

This book is very fast-paced and it never stalls. From the first page you will forget where you are and what you are doing, and not want to put this down. The minute I finished Grimspace, I had to move on to the second book in the series, Wanderlust.